Brewing beer is less glamorous than you might think. It involves a lot of sanitizing and a good deal of time spent watching the pot boil.
But that didn’t deter us from making the brew from the White House, which released recipes for two beers in September — a honey ale and a honey porter. We brewed the ale because it’s been served at state events and because it’s a style more familiar to casual beer drinkers. Many who are interested in home brewing have looked at the White House formula. “The recipe is fairly basic,” says Chris Maggiolo, owner of The Homebrew Emporium in Cambridge. “British hops, standard British ale yeast, unspecified crystal and biscuit malts, and some extract. It’s a good recipe for beginning brewers.”
Comments
I've home-brewed the White House honey ale. As the article suggests, it's a perfectly nice hop-forwards amber ale (the audacity of hops, if you will). There's a bit of honey and citrus flavor left on the palate in the version I've made, but it's certainly not sweet. Ale yeast makes a point of not leaving any sugar unfermented, whether it originates in the barley malt or in adjunct honey.
If you're not yet a home brewer, and if the presidential association is enough to propel you into home brewing, then go for it. This makes as good a beer as much of what lines the liquor store shelves, and as the article says, it's an easy beginners recipe. Northern Brewer (a large Web retailer) has a recipe kit for this ale, with somewhat clearer directions than the prospectus from the White House kitchen. Northern Brewer substitutes liquid yeast for the dried yeast specified in the recipe -- usually liquid is a better choice, and for the record, I used White Labs WLP 051 California Ale yeast. White Labs says this yeast has the property of playing nice with honey.
As the White House press release says: ale to the chief. May there be more Beer Summits, whoever is in charge next year.